


Worth the Monsters

by ChasingIdeas (DulcetImagination), WaywardlyProfound (WaywardFangirl22)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bunker Fic, Castiel & Sam Winchester Friendship, Destiel - Freeform, Fallen Castiel, Human Castiel, July 4th, M/M, Post Finale, Winchester Brothers - Freeform, charlie - Freeform, kevin - Freeform, post series/season 8 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-16 20:46:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/866428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DulcetImagination/pseuds/ChasingIdeas, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaywardFangirl22/pseuds/WaywardlyProfound
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel once said he was 'Always happy to bleed for the Winchesters.'<br/>A now human Cas has lost much since meeting and becoming friends with the two Winchester brothers; Sam ventures to ask why he's stuck around, and the once-angel's answer may be the catalyst to healing the strained relationship between Dean and the fallen angel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth the Monsters

July came just like it did every other year. Hot, dry, and filled with cook outs, family picnics, and fireworks.  
Sam, Dean, Cas, Charlie, and Kevin were all camped out at the bunker. Two months since the angels fell, and they hadn't gotten as far as they would had liked figuring exactly what had happened.  
Life was a lot different than Sam could recall it being in quite some time. Much more...domestic.  
Sure, they were researching the hell out of the angel tablet and reading all they could about ways to reach heaven and Metatron to reverse the spell Metatron had used on Cas and the other angels now that none of them could zap upstairs like they used to; and the occasional hunt came up as well. But for the most part, they were living as normal a life as they had lived since Sam could remember. Well, with the exception being Crowley kept in the dungeon, he thought wryly.  
But it was nice. In his heart he knew it wouldn't last, but somehow that made him enjoy it all the more.  
On the fourth night of July, well after midnight, Sam, Dean, and Cas were all parked in the kitchen, stuffed from the burgers Dean had grilled up as a last-minute 'why-the-hell-not' celebration of Independence Day.  
Beer in the hands of the two Winchester boys, and a cup of coffee in Cas's, they sat in a pleasant silence.  
Sam was looking through some old pictures, and stopped at one of Cas, Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Dean, and himself.  
It hit him how strange it was, among the human hunters, for Castiel, angel of the Lord, to be standing there, looking as proud and as part of the broken family as he did himself.  
"Why did you always come back, Cas?" Sam found himself asking without thought. "You could have gone at any time. It would have been loads easier for you to just zap off and leave us to deal with everything. With all the monsters and stuff you would never have had to deal with upstairs. What made you always come back?"  
Cas, looking surprised for a moment, looked at Sam and then at Dean for a moment before speaking. A soft silence hung between them as Castiel contemplated his answer. It was punctuated only by the chirping of crickets and the gentle glow of fireflies; so much different than the violent flashes of hellfire that had seemed to creep up around them lately.  
"Despite all my centuries spent among the host of Heaven, I had never seen more true conviction, selflessness and ... goodness in two souls than I saw in yours and your brothers'. You and Sam fight and protect people because you can, and because of how you were raised. But it is more than that... you do what no one else can, where no one else would. You and Sam do seem to have...well, worse luck than most," Cas conceded with a wry grin. The smile was something as new as the peaceful noises around them. It seemed humanity had pried a fuller sense of emotion out of Cas. "But the honesty of your intentions in each of the hunts you find yourselves on is what kept drawing me back.  
Here you were, two broken brothers, just helping people because you were able to, and saving people because you remembered when no one was there to save you. You do for others what no one ever did for you.  
And seeing that selflessness in what I would have considered to be soldiers of a sort, showed me that there was much more to the world than I might have remembered. There is a choice in all we do, and you and Sam constantly make choices - difficult choices - for others and for each other. And I had not seen loyalty like that in many decades."  
He paused once more, but only for a moment.  
"Humanity is a strange thing. But the most wondrous of strange things. I think I quite like it." That odd quirk of a smile graced his face again, and Sam noticed that Dean couldn't help but stare a bit out of the corner of his eye. Because that smile was in no way celestial; it was so completely human.  
"So basically what you're saying is that Dean and I are worth the monsters?" Sam asked, half joking; his eyes, however, were soft as he gazed at his friend.  
"Yes. Yes, you are." Cas agreed with that small, human smile. He glanced at Dean as he was speaking, catching his stare and holding it with his own gaze.  
Dean was looking at him with a strange expression; renewed understanding, respect, and something else. Castiel with compassion, apology, and an undefinable, stirring intensity.  
As he looked away, Sam couldn't help but think that perhaps, even though Castiel becoming human had been traumatic and extremely hard on the once angel emotionally, it may yet be the final piece to Dean and Cas finally resolving their differences and reaching an understanding. Of what sort that understanding might be, Sam didn't know, but as long as his family was happy, he couldn't find it in him to care too much.  
Sam cleared his throat, and muttered a quick excuse about another beer before disappearing silently into the bunker.  
Dean and Cas' stare never broke, never even wavered. It was as if they were held together by this tiny thread. A thread made of noble human things; like bravery and first love, and by the less noble things; like frustration and tripping over the stumbling blocks life so often snuck into your path.  
But it was a thread bound by the beautiful human things as well, like soft smiles and the feeling of weightlessness as the sun sets.  
And that moment was indeed one of the beautiful ones. For as the wavering day begun to slowly fade into the new night, Castiel did a very human thing.  
He stretched out his hand, and reached across the space of a thousand different things, leaving his hand gently uncurled, palm up, asking without saying a word.  
Dean Winchester looked into that outstretched promise, and abandoned humanity. Instead he did something beyond human bravery and love.  
He took hold of that thread, and with all the power in the heavens, he vowed he'd never let go.  
Together they stared out into eternity; surrounded by a power that, even if they tried until the end of days, heaven or earth would never capture.  
It was love, in the hands of an angel and a hunter.

**Author's Note:**

> This story started out as a little ficlet I wrote after being inspired by a Doctor Who quote, and it reminding me of Sam, Dean, and Castiel's friendships (And the little bit more that's there between Dean & Cas).  
> So I sent it along to my lovely friend and fellow Destiel shipper, and it turned into this lovely little piece you have before you.  
> Thanks for reading! Have a nice day. :)


End file.
